Gendry’s, on the other hand, is much more pessimistic. He in a sense is forced to abandon his identity, his future security, but accepts it, even continues to utilise his skill-set in new contexts. Throughout AGOT, ACOK and ASOS we see multiple examples of Gendry’s inherent kindness and strict moral code. His world is ordered, which is not surprising when we consider how his role as apprentice blacksmith saw him in direct contact with a strictly feudalistic society. By the time of Brienne’s later POV in AFFC we see how these ideas have been corrupted in a kind of horrible pastiche and radicalisation of the original mandate and functions of the BwB. Before, the BwB functioned according to Hobsbawm’s original (though not uncriticised) thesis of ‘social banditry’.

(…)

The BwB under Lady Stoneheart is a story of corruption, of an abandonment (or subversion) of fundamental ideas of the rule of law and justice-by-trial as a result of both her leadership and the context of an increasingly intensifying, demoralising war and upcoming Winter. This is reflected with Gendry…

hey, i saw how you tagged that post about mischaracterisation in fics with gendry and i’d be interested to hear from you about ways you agree fic writers have warped his character into some fanon personality?

(asked by anonymous)

alright sure! first of though, i just want to say that this of course doesn’t go for ALL fic writers/fics (although it is for a handful of them), and i refuse to point out any specific writers and/or fics.

tl;dr: gendry is his own person who strives to live undefined by other people and/or social barriers, yet such barriers and those above him tend to conquer his efforts. gendry is not anyone’s character to mold freely; he has is own characterization, personality, and ideals. his lowborn status has shaped him as a character and is not something easily taken away from him, and arya is not the key to unlocking his introverted personality. gendry doesn’t need arya to survive (nor her for him), and he has a characterization that expands beyond the limits of her existence.

Your BwB meta is the best. One of the things in the series which makes me the saddest, tbh-- their transformation from social bandits with some sense of purpose to those they originally formed themselves in opposition to.

It really is saddening. :( That’s something I don’t think the anon understood. I don’t hate the BWB because I think they’re villains — in the beginning of ASOS they’re arguably protagonists, because Sandor is still playing an antagonist role. (Albeit a deliberately reader-sympathetic one, and on reread even more so, but he’s certainly an antagonist to Arya at that point.)

But it’s in his trial you see they’re already starting to become what they were fighting against. That willingness to kill someone entirely uninvolved in the crimes they accuse him of, the guilt by association — and Beric and Thoros had been regular King’s Landing residents, they were at the Hand’s Tourney, they knew of Sandor’s animosity to Gregor… but it didn’t matter to them. All Cleganes are the same, even if one’s never touched the fighting in the Riverlands because he was in King’s Landing as they knew he was.

And if Arya hadn’t been there in the Hollow Hill with her (semi-justifiable) claim about Mycah, you think they’d’ve let Sandor go? Fuck no. They wanted to kill him, they’d’ve found some jumped up reason for a trial no matter what.

And, yeah, sure, Thoros, you saw the dead Targaryen babies… oh, wait, why were you in KL at the time? Because the high priests of R’hllor knew Aerys had a thing for fire and wanted you to convert him, right? Huh. Were you there when Aerys had Rickard Stark burned alive? Maybe not, but how about the Hand Qartlon Chested? Did you stand and watch like everyone else in the court, saying nothing? And you saw those dead children laid at Robert’s feet… but that didn’t stop you from becoming Robert’s best buddy, did it. And sure, you regret your actions before you found your faith… but I suppose nobody else regrets stuff they did in the past, do they?

It’s this absolute and total hypocrisy, that culminates in Brienne’s “trial” — Brienne, who saved the people they claim to protect while they were off on a mission of empty vengeance — but that doesn’t matter, she’s connected to the Lannisters, therefore she’s a whore who must die. It’s a damn good thing that when Jaime went off with her he didn’t take his squires… doesn’t matter that they’re children, sons of Riverlander lords, their fathers made peace with Lannisters and they served Jaime, nothing would save them.

I can understand how one might think of the BWB as heroic when hearing about them in ACOK. Or at the beginning of ASOS (even with the trial and even with how they frustrated Arya), or even at the end (because Freys, y’know). But I don’t understand how one could finish AFFC and still love them unwaveringly, still think of them as heroes selflessly helping smallfolk.

Though the anon was incorrect — hell, even I was incorrect in this post — I don’t hate the BWB. I’m just really, really angry at them, at what they could have been and what they became.

One man’s journey from republican who’s cousin was killed for “probably being a rebel” to aiding the English aristocracy, or, more specifically, aiding a man who tried to pay him off to stop him marrying the woman he loved, belittled his catholic beliefs, essentially killed his wife, and is a general arse

She was beautiful by candlelight, her skin glowing yellow and orange and the shadows of the flickering flame making the curve of her breasts more pronounced, darkening the kisses he’d sucked into her skin.

"Where’re you…" his voice trailed away. She was shrugging into a tunic, and pulling her hair out from under it, twisting it so that it lay over her shoulder. She smiled and crossed the room and bent to kiss him.

"It’s nothing. I’ll be back soon," and he believed her, because she always came back, she loved him too much not to.

Happy Valentine’s Day!!!! Especially to these amazing people, who never fail to make me smile and laugh and who make me want to write sappy love letters to them each and every time I scroll through my dash, because they are the greatest people ever:

She relies on more than instinct these days. It’s unnervingly human of her, and it makes her even angrier at him.

Anger is easier. She knows this.

Nymeria asks again, “Let me eat him, then”.

Arya glares. “No”, she says with finality. “He is mine to do as I please”.

It’s more than territoriality, though. When he comes to the woods, she pounces at him, throws him on his back, sniffs every crevice of his body, makes sure no one else has touched him. She marks him as hers, draws blood with her little sharp teeth, rubs her scent into his skin. It should be enough. Having her way with him, satisfying her own needs. Alas, it’s not.

There are moments of quiet, when their panting has subsided, when their hearts have found their normal paces, when his calloused fingertips draw lazy patterns on her back. Moments when she can’t help but breathe in his scent not for any sense of possessiveness, but out of simple affection. She’ll think back on these moments with anger later on, but right then she can’t bring herself to growl or snarl at him, so she lets his warmth envelop her and his quiet breathing lull her to sleep.

sorry for the crappy gifs, this is like my third attempt at gif-making. also, if you’ve changed your theme since 02/06/2012, then this will be a little bit wrong!

anyway, summer edition of my follow forever—i decided to make one in celebration of the last of my exams being over. it hasn’t all that much since last time (amazing people tend to stay amazing. who knew?)

these people are pretty damn awesome and make my tumblr a lot prettier with the wonderful things they post. and they are also the kindest, loveliest people you’ll come across. so here they are:

Yeah tbh I am just as much here for their friendship times. TBH perhaps even more b/c the age gap thing is a bit much for me at acorn hall still. Honestly I kinda don’t care if they end up romantically together, them platonically together is also gr9

i defff feel that. i sort of vacillate on it. it’s not the age thing so much as arya’s youth sometimes, but then again, she’s so old in her head that i just kind of get turned around and have to just go “welp” sometimes.

but their friendship is super important to me.

honestly, when it comes to this series, friendships and family relationships matter to me so much more than romantic ships. like i’ve found exactly one ship that even rivals those first two dynamics.

3. CJ Cregg (because she’s quick on her feet to respond to things blindsiding her and became the most powerful woman in Washington.)

4. Nicola Murray (because she’s basically me with political power. This is not a compliment to me.)

5. Leslie Knope (because I wish I could be as positive, cheerful, and relentless changing my community and being a good friend like her.)

6. Irina Derevko (because I am a sucker for Russian spies and wish they had done right by her.)

7. Susan Ivanova (because Ivanova is God and God is a sarcastic fighter pilot who is fiercely loyal to her friends.)

8. Dana Scully (because she’s the one who got me started on this whole fandom thing and I will forever have a special place in my heart for the woman always fighting for the truth even if she didn’t quite believe in it.)

9. Kathryn Janeway (because man, she was all over the board but she was MY CAPTAIN.)

10. Mrs. Hughes (because it is a show that’s a horrible conservative rewrite of history but she’s worked her way up to what was probably the highest position available to her and she’s still compassionate and able to cope with the changes and fight in her own little ways the injustices of the time as much as the narrative will let her.)

Rules: Find out what characters share the same personality type as you here and list the characters that you find relevant below. Then tag five friends and let them know you tagged them.

*

PERSONALITY: INFJ
VARIANT: TURBULENT
ROLE: DIPLOMAT

You are one of the Diplomats - an empathic and idealistic individual who enjoys exploring interesting ideas and prizes morality. You are known for your deep thoughts, strong will and intuitive skills. Above you will find a brief overview of your personality traits - proceed to the type overview to learn much more about your personality type. Prepare to be impressed.

Because I went to see Kingsman: The Secret Service and I absolutely loved the concept behind it and I love spies and it fits my Agent Carter love and mythology love and Agent Lancelot is the code name of Roxy Morton who is an awesome female agent who gets her position by her own merit and it’s just a cool username!

2) What is your middle name?

Jane

3) If you could own a fairytale/fictional pet, what would it be?

A dragon, duh.

4) Favourite colour?

Blue. Like the sky at dusk.

5) Favourite song?

Probably Mamma Mia or Killer Queen

6) What are your top 3 fandoms?

The London Life, Downton Abbey, Harry Potter (I guess? I’m no longer active in it but I’m not really active in any other fandoms either)